Improvement in portable fences



UNITED STATESv PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE FENCIDES.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,2111, dated April 2l, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. BLonGnTT, of Three Rivers, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Michigan, have invented an Improved Portable Field-Fence; and I do hereby declare that t-he following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of two sections of my improved fence, showing the same when arranged in a straight line. Fig. 2 shows two sections of the fence united together and out of a straight or level line. The red lines show one of the sections in a plane with its adjacent section. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section through the fence, taken in the plane indicated by red linc x in Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

My invention is intended to enable the farmer to construct a portable rail-panel fence in such manner that the panels, although securely connected together and rmly braced,` may be made to accommodate themselves to rolling land, or tov the surface of land which is very uneven and abounding in hills, and while this is so a continuity of the lines of rails and a close contiguity of the panels at the ends or joints of the rails shall be maintained, and thus openings, through which swine or other small animals might enter, are obviated at these points.

The nature of my improvement consists in double-lapping the ends of the rails of a jointpanel fence, in combination with connecting the panels with pivots and supporting them wth shear-braces, which have notched crosss1 s.

To enable others to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

The fence is made of sections of a suitable length, and each section consists of a number of rails, A A A', which are arranged parallel to each other at required distances apart and nailed to upright battens B B. The rails A are made shorter than the rails A A, and the battens B B', at the ends of each section of fence, are set back some distance from the ends of the long rails A A, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 or" the drawings. These sections of fence just described are connected together by means of a pin, c, which forms a pivot-joint at the ends of the sections of fence and allows these sections to take any desired angle which may be found necessary in carrying a line ot' fence over very uneven land. Before the sections of fence are pivoted together the ends of the long rails A A of one section are lapped well over the ends of the long rails of its contiguous section. Then the pivot a, is passed transversely through the middle rails, A A, a short distance from the ends thereof, thus connecting the sections together and forming a joint about which the sections will work. The two shear-braces C C are secured at their lowermost ends to the transverse sill D, which has a notch, g, cut into its top edge at an intermediate point between its eXtreme ends. This notch g is made as wide as the thickness of the two lapped ends of the bottom rails, A A, of the two sections offence, which rails t into this notch, and are in this manner secured together. The crotch between the upper ends ot' the shear-braces C C receives the top rails of the two pivoted` sections of fence and keeps the ends of these rails together at this point. The space between the ends of the short rails AI A when the sections of fence are pivoted together is such as to receive the upright shearbraces C C, and also to allow the ends of the short rails to approach eac-h other when laying the line of fence over hilly land.

It will ybe seen from the above description of my fence that while I combine the strength and advantages of the shear-brace supporters for keeping the sections of fence in an upright position without using the old and objectionable fence-postsI employ the pivot-joint for allowing the fence to be erected either in a horizontal plane or over very uneven land, and also secure the lapping of the ends of the rails, which enables me to preserve the contiguity and continuity of the rails when the fence is carried over and made to accommodate itself to the surface of very uneven land, as instanced in Fig. 2 of the drawings. In

this way and by this arrangement I can put up my fence without leaving open spaces at the ends of the sections through which small animals would enter. I also obviate the necessity of making the fence of pickets.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire t0 secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination and arrangement of the lapping-rails, shear-braces, notched sill, and

pivot-hinge in the manner and for the purpose described.

2. The arrangement of the lapping-rails of the panels, pivot-hinge, and shear-braces in the manner and for the purpose described.

' JOHN W. BLODGETT.

Witnesses:

WM. ARMES, HENRY F. SEVERENS. 

